Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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35. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason the Central Bank's Code of Practice on the Transfer of Mortgages is not enforceable (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10836/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank of Ireland has informed me that the Code of Practice on the Transfer of Mortgages was issued by the Central Bank in 1991 to institutions involved in mortgage credit and it is a voluntary code.

It may be applied on a voluntary basis by any institution involved in mortgage credit. The Code of Practice applies to a loan secured by the mortgage of a residential property.  For the purposes of this Code of Practice, residential property is not limited to principal private residences.  The Code is available at this link ()

Most loan agreements include a clause that allows the original lender to sell the loan on to another firm. The loan agreement is the document that describes the terms and conditions of a person’s loan.

Provision 3.11 of the statutory Consumer Protection Code 2012 requires that, where a regulated lender intends to transfer all or part of its ‘regulated activities’ to another regulated entity, it must provide advance notification to both the Central Bank and affected consumers. Specifically, a lender must provide a consumer with at least 2 months’ notice before transferring all or part of its loan book covered by the Code to another person, including where the transferee is an unregulated entity. Where the transferee is an unregulated entity, the Code requires that the regulated lender also notify the consumer of the regulated entity that will be ‘servicing’ the loan for the unregulated entity.